The Only Constant Thing
by LaBaronessa
Summary: A combination of the book and the movie; this happens at the end of both and starts off with Sophie being courted quite persistently by the prince they saved. This, of course, doesn't make Howl happy. SophiexHowl / SophiexPrinceJustin
1. In which there are far too many flowers

**Author's Note:** I'm taking a few things from the book and placing it in this fic, I'm adding things from the movie as well. So! If you've only read the book, or have only seen the movie, you might be a little confused about the way this is going and why certain things have happened and whatnot. Based on the book and the movie, everything in here should be correct, if a bit muddled together. That means I've mixed characters, added powers, fixed the castle and also kept the apprentice Michael (not Markl). If you've got any serious questions about what is going on, feel free to send me a message.

**Disclaimer:** Remember! I'm taking things from both the book and the movie, because I'm certain it'll turn out better. Other than that, I don't own any of the characters.

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Chapter One: In which there are far too many flowers

_-A fickle heart is the only constant thing in this world.  
Justin-_

Sophie took the note from around the rose and gave it a bit of a smile before letting it float into the waste bin by the stairs. She put the rose in a small vase that was filled with other roses of the same beauty (all different colors) that sat looking out of the window in the small room that was her own. Another note, another rose, both the same thing that the Prince from the other country had been sending her for a while as he waited for the war to come to a complete stand-still. She wasn't sure why he kept sending them, she never sent anything in return, and she had told him on numerous occasions before that she was quite happy with Howl; but he insisted on continually sending her flowers and that same note, as if it were a charm.

"Well," Sophie stated assuredly, "if it is a charm, it's not going to work." She waved her finger at the vase of roses and demanded, "You hear me? You won't work if you're a charm."

The roses merely bent softly in the breeze that wafted in from the street outside.

"Are you casting spells without thinking again, Sophie?" The young woman turned to see Howl leaning lazily on the doorway, his eyes fixed on the roses that sat in the window. He frowned. "I don't know why you keep his flowers when you have all those other ones to choose from."

"Well I most certainly can't toss them out. It wouldn't be very nice." Sophie arranged one of the pale blue roses so it looked at Howl. She sensed a twinge of jealousy in the air at Howl's sullen silence and corrected, "It isn't very nice to the _flowers_, Howl. I can't just let them die because they're from an admirer."

"That's my Sophie." He smiled. "Always thinking of everyone but herself." He swept into the tiny room and swept Sophie out just as gracefully. "But leave them be for now. I have a surprise for you!"

Sophie barely glanced back at the flowers to be sure they were still there as she was ushered from her room and into the living room, where Michael and Martha stood. And Lettie. And Wizard Suliman. And Fanny. And Mrs. Fairfax. "Oh!"

Michael cleared his throat with a broad smile on his face, "Sophie! We have good news for you!"

"Well, what is it?"

"Me'n'Martha-"

"We're getting married Sophie!" Martha launched herself into Sophie's arms, squealing with girlish laughter. "Michael and I are getting married! It was finally decided and I can't _wait_!"

Sophie was silent with shock at first, but then she smiled and hugged her youngest sister. "That's fantastic Martha! I'm so glad for you!"

And then the rest of them all circled around Sophie to clamor over each others voices with how the whole thing was going to happen. She found out that she was going to be the Maid of Honor of course (Lettie had insisted after everything she had gone through), and that their little flower shop was going to be supplying the flowers and the bouquet's and they were wondering if she could convince some lilies to twine around an arch so they could have the ceremony under it, Michael was going to try and reserve a boat so they could go out into the ocean for their honeymoon, Howl was going to be the Best Man (of course), and more things upon even more things came tumbling out of everyone's mouth in such excitement that Sophie promptly forgot them as soon as another one came to take their place. Such a hassle! But it was for Martha's wedding, and she was a bit of a romantic.

The rest of the day Sophie was so distracted by everything that was going on that she didn't notice anything else, and she hardly had time to think before her head hit her pillow and she passed out until morning. Only two thoughts passed through her mind; the first was that ever since she had gone back to being young again, she felt as if her energy was still the same as an old woman's. It was irritating, but it might've had to do with the fact that she kept herself immensely busy (careful to ignore all of Howl's remarks on how she cleaned and tidied and worked all too much).

The second thought was that her shelf in front of the window looked a bit too empty.

---

"Howl!" Sophie stomped out of her room, shaking the empty vase. "Howl where _are_ you!"

"Went out the mansion door." Calcifer said, flickering away at the logs in an almost amused way.

"Ooo!" Sophie said. "That man! Honestly!" She stomped to the door and switched the color purple-down and wrenched the door open, stomping out into a flower filled valley. The door slammed shut behind her.

It took a few minutes for her to realize that she had carried the vase with her and she soon started plucking flowers and arranging them into the vase. Well if it wasn't holding her roses, it might as well hold other flowers, she thought. Might as well make itself useful, just like she was making her energy useful. Now, what was the flower that Martha wanted, again? Ah right, she wanted lilies to go around a pretty iron arch. Well that shouldn't be too hard. And the colors that would go best with Martha's looks would be violets and perhaps some lilacs, baby's breath, definitely. As Sophie worked, she slowly grew calmer. It was working that always was able to clear her mind, and she told herself that it was perfectly alright that the roses were gone. It wasn't as if the Prince was going to stop sending them just because Howl threw those ones away. She nodded to herself and continued to work. Yes, with the way things were, he would end up sending her more flowers and this time she would find a charm to keep them safe from Howl. If she had to, she'd get Calcifer to help.

Now that her mind was settled, Sophie started her trek back to the castle, only to find that she had stomped so far away that she couldn't see the castle anymore.

"Oh dear." Sophie said. "I wonder if it's just beyond those hills there." So she moved toward the hills and slowly made her way up and over them. She wasn't too worried about the Flower Shop because Michael could take care of it on his own, or Howl could help out (although she doubted that), and if the worst came to worst they could just not open the door that day. Once she had cleared over the hill, Sophie could see for miles… and yet there was still not castle. For a moment she was incredibly puzzled, and then it hit her. Calcifer must have moved while she was wandering off in a huff. With another huff, Sophie squinted at the horizon and did a full three-sixty. There, she saw the black speck that was the castle. It seemed stationary, but not wanting to take that risk, Sophie hurried off in its direction. She didn't want to be _too_ late, there were other things to do besides arranging flowers.

By the time she got to where she was certain the castle was, muttering to the flowers in the vase the entire time, Sophie was beat. She looked up at the black castle, looming above her as if nothing was wrong at all with the fact that it had moved, and shook her head. There must've been a reason for it.

Sophie put her hand on the handle and walked inside, carrying flowers with her.

"Sophie!"

Michael's voice rung out above her and she turned, in surprise, at the urgency in his voice. "What is it, Michael?"

He fidgeted instead of answering.

"Well?" Sophie walked up the stairs with the flowers and set them on the table. "What is it?"

"You…" he struggled, as if he couldn't say it, "have a visitor."

"Is it Martha? Tell her she can wait a moment."

"No, it's not Martha."

"Oh, Lettie then?"

"Not Lettie either…"

Sophie turned to see the young apprentice fidgeting even more now, a look of pleading panic on his face. Worry too. Now Sophie was worried. Who could it be that had shown up and put such a frog in Michael's throat? "Where?"

"Waiting in your room, Sophie-" She headed off to her room, Michael following, "-I tried to tell him that he couldn't wait in there but he wouldn't listen-" He? Sophie wondered who he could be, "-and so he's waiting there and Howl is waiting with him."

"Good heavens!" Sophie breathed. Two people were in her tiny room? How would she fit? She swung around the corner to her doorway and found it open. Howl was leaning against the small, built in counter that braced against the wall and windows, and the person sitting on the bed was—

"Prince Justin!" Sophie blinked at him.

Both men turned to look at her; both smiled equally congenial smiles; both stood up and turned to her. Sophie smiled nervously back. Why were they both so very, very calm?

"Sophie, your guest wouldn't wait out with Calcifer where guests usually wait, so I thought I'd accompany him to your room where he _insisted_ on being."

"Oh…" Sophie said. It wasn't a very intelligent answer, but it was all she could think of. Bringing her thoughts back together, Sophie smiled and asked, "So why are you here, Prince Justin?"

"Please, just call me Justin, Sophie. I hate being so formal."

"Justin then." Sophie would have moved to sit if she felt as if that would seal her fate in being cornered in the small room by two very insistent males. "Why are you here? You should have sent a note about your arrival, I would have stayed instead of going out picking flowers."

"I did," said Justin pointedly, glancing in Howl's direction. "It seems my note wasn't delivered to you. But no matter." He turned his pale eyes on her and smiled. "I'm here to ask for a date-that is, if you'll accept, of course."

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**Author's Note:** Alright! So that's the beginning. A bit long, but it gives the idea of what is going on… I'm going to try and keep this one short. Five chapters. That's it. That's what I've limited myself to. D: No more than five chapters. SO! Thar we are. Hope you enjoyed it!


	2. In which Sophie makes a decision

**Author's Note:** Well! I wasn't expecting such a big turn out of compliments and watchers alike! o-o I'm pretty amazed and I wasn't going to update yet, but because everyone seems to like where I'm gong, I've decided to break from homework and whip up this little chapter. :) By the way, for those of you who like tea, I've unwittingly stumbled across a spectacular combination! Apricot and chamomile together = a fantastic smell and a sweet, gentle taste. :3 You'll love it, I know.

**Disclaimer:** I don't own any characters in here, really. Oh, and I have strep throat, so I blame any confusion and bad writing on that. :D

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Chapter Two: In which Sophie makes a decision

Sophie stared at the Prince after he asked her out on a date in front of Howl. He was actually asking her out? Right there? Right when Howl was standing right there? She looked at Howl, her eyes wide in surprise and was even more surprised to find the magician staring sullenly out the window. There wasn't a single thing about him that suggested that he liked the idea, but he wasn't speaking up for her either. Wasn't saying anything to the extent that they had a relationship and, by golly, Justin ought to respect that even if he was a prince. He just sat there, sullenly, like a child who was stubbornly refusing to say anything in order to get what he wanted. Sophie sighed to herself. Of course, that was who Howl was.

She gave Justin a bit of a smile, an apologetic smile, and said, "Well I… I'm flattered, really-"

Before she could finish, Justin cut in eagerly. "You've gotten all my other flowers, right?"

"Yes-"

"The pink ones and the red ones and the white ones?"

"All of them." Sophie smiled.

"And you liked them?"

"Yes." Sophie said.

"Then, will you come with me to pick out some more flowers?"

Sophie paused. She looked at Howl. He was still looking out the window. "Well I… who are they for?"

"That's a secret." Justin said with a smile.

They weren't going to be for her? Well that she could do. Sophie smiled. "I'd-"

"Sophie!" Michael burst into the room and tripped on his own feet. "We have a problem!"

"What is it?" Sophie turned in surprise.

"I can't find Martha!"

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Martha was found a few hours later shopping around for things for her wedding. She had left a note on their ice box of where she had headed off to, but apparently Michael had mistaken it for something Sophie put up for Howl (or more likely, the other way around) and had ignored the little slip of paper. Sophie was now back in her room, this time without Howl and Prince Justin, and was currently tending to some flowers that needed to look just right in order to make the bouquet that she was trying to do.

"Now you listen to me," She said, wiggling her finger at them, "You listen to me, you hear? You're going to do this and you're going to do it right, alright?" Then she set to work. She put the roses there, and the daisies here, moved the green leaves over to the side and splaying around the middle, put the baby's breath here and continued to talk to the flowers. "You're such pretty things, you are. But so delicate. You could break with a breath—but you won't." She added hurriedly, not wanting to cast _that_ kind of unwitting spell upon them. "No no you won't. And you'll last forever. Or at least most of forever." It would be far into the future when an archaeologist was digging that her flowers would be found, fresh as the day they were buried, marveled at, put up in a museum, and stared at in wonder until centuries later they collapsed into dust.

"You know," she wondered, "I don't suppose it would be _too_ bad to go out with that Prince Justin…" She put a pretty little lilac in there for good measure. "He's certainly more attentive than Howl ever is." She sighed, wondering why her heart wasn't feeling what her head was saying. "And he would probably know how to care for a girl's feelings more than his own…" She sighed again, putting a sad little flower in the arrangement. "Perk up," she told it, "you're with a bunch of pretty flowers, even if you're not that stunning, you make the arrangement all the more beautiful because you're different." She went back to her original problem. "The problem is that I wish that Howl would say something, but I don't suppose that's his way, is it?" She frowned a little, wondering why it was okay even if it _was_ his way.

"But I don't think that Justin would be like that, would he?" She thought about it. Or would he? Was he doing the same thing as Howl was? Courting a girl until she gave in and then becoming bored with her? "Goodness!" She breathed. "That is _not_ what the world needs!" Another Howl! Just think about it! She shook her head at the flowers. "I can't let that happen!"

She bustled away from the flowers and moved to the kitchen where she started to cook lunch, muttering to herself about how it wouldn't be good, no no it wouldn't be good at all if there was another Howl in this world.

"Calcifer," she said once, "what would you think if there were two Howls?"

Calcifer, who was hampered just a bit by the boiling pot of water on his face, sputtered in shock, "_Two_? Sophie! What did you do this time!"

"I didn't do anything you old spark," she said. "I'm just curious about what you think."

He sputtered more and then settled. "I think it's a bad idea."

"That's what I thought." Sophie sighed.

Calcifer was quiet before questioning suspiciously, "You're not planning anything, are you?"

Sophie scowled at him, "Be nice. Of course I wouldn't plan anything as silly as two Howls."

"That's not what I meant…" The fire-demon muttered, but Sophie was already on the other side of the room, finishing up what she was making and heading out to see if she could find Michael or Martha or someone else who might want to eat lunch with her.

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It wasn't until much later that Sophie would make her decision, and in the time that it took her to come up with that answer she had done many things. First, she had made a wonderful lunch, both Martha and Michael had said so. Second, she had arranged all the flowers for Michael's and Martha's wedding. Third she had tidied the house again, even carefully arranging Howl's potions and whatnot so that they could be easily found—not that he ever looked at things when he grabbed them, he just reached for where he thought he knew it should be, this caused a bit of a problem when later that evening he grabbed wart-maker instead of skin smoother and Sophie knew that she was bound to never hear the end of it—and she even managed to make it so Calcifer had both plenty of wood that was within range, he also had a clean chimney to blow smoke out of.

She stood there after all her work, soot in her hair and over her clothes, dirt under her fingernails, a mop in one hand and a dusting towel in the other, and was looking around quite proudly when Howl came traipsing in (his warts now gone) and said, "Goodness Sophie, you certainly can keep a clean house—" and she almost said thank you before he continued, "—but you really know nothing about keeping yourself clean. Go take a bath. Calcifer, hot water."

Sophie threw down the towel, tossed the mop with a clatter and stormed to the bathroom without a word, the door slamming behind her. That was it! She was getting no appreciation here, none at all! If he was just going to treat her like a maid (it didn't matter that she acted like one, that didn't mean she had to be treated like one!) then that was probably all she was to him! So much for the ending of that book! It was all one big fairytale and everybody knew those didn't exist.

Sophie got washed and cleaned, she dressed up in the prettiest thing she had (which happened to actually be quite pretty. Howl had bought it for her on a whim, spending the money he was still getting on commissions willy-nilly, and it flattered her quite nicely), did her hair the nicest way she knew how and stuck the nicest hat she had on her head. When she sailed out of her room, it was past dinner time and the three house guests were seated at the table waiting for her.

"Wow! Sophie, why are you all dressed up?" Michael asked in astonishment as she sailed on past them.

"I'm going on a date!" Without a single look to any of them and quite pointedly ignoring Howl, Sophie swept out the door and slammed it behind her. She stopped once outside and looked around.

The door behind her swung back open and she glanced back coolly to find Howl and Martha standing there and Michael flitting behind them.

"A date with who?" Martha asked, her eyes wide.

"Who do you think?" Sophie said. "Prince Justin."

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**Author's end note:** Sorry it took so long guys. I got all distracted with work. Hopefully you'll have another update by the end of a month…


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